Posted on 10/25/2006 11:50:30 AM PDT by Froufrou
Days after actor Michael J. Fox appeared in a TV ad urging Missouri voters to support stem cell research, opponents will unveil their own commercial during the World Series Wednesday night. The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad. Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Kansas City Royals player Mike Sweeney and two actors _ Patricia Heaton of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
"Amendment 2 claims it bans human cloning, but in the 2,000 words you don't read, it makes cloning a constitutional right," Suppan says in the commercial. "Don't be deceived."
Amendment 2 would provide constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research in Missouri. The 30-second spot featuring Fox, 45, who sways uncontrollably in the ad due to his Parkinson's disease, is actually a commercial for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.
But the Senate race and stem cell issue are intertwined _ McCaskill's Republican opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, opposes the stem cell measure.
Fox also has lent his celebrity to Democrats Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, running for the Senate in Maryland, and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who is seeking re-election. Both politicians also back stem cell research.
"They say all politics is local, but it's not always the case," Fox says in the ad that began airing Saturday during Game 1 of the World Series. "What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans _ Americans like me."
The Fox ad has triggered a backlash, with some criticizing it as exploitive. Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh claimed Fox was "either off his medication or acting," though he later apologized.
Dr. John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital, called Limbaugh's claim "ludicrous." Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells.
"If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."
The Missouri ad opposing Amendment 2 was finished Tuesday and was immediately available on the Internet. Missourians Against Human Cloning spokeswoman Cathy Ruse said the ad was already in the works, "but we sped up production after the Michael J. Fox ad came out.
"That ad claims opponents want to criminalize research and prevent the expansion of stem cell research. Those claims are just false and misleading," Ruse said. "Our gripe with Amendment 2 is it creates a right to do human cloning and it creates the right to human egg trafficking for cloning research."
Connie Farrow, a spokeswoman for Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, a supporter of the amendment, called the ad "a pathetic attempt to distort the facts and mislead voters."
"To believe the claims made in their ad you'd have to believe that over 100 nonprofit patient and medical organizations, including the Missouri State Medical Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, just to name a few, are conspiring to mislead voters," Farrow said. "And that defies commonsense."
Celebrities have a long history of supporting political candidates. But there's no question that Fox, who campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race, is uniquely suited as a spokesman for stem cell research.
Fox, who starred on TV's "Family Ties" and "Spin City" plus the "Back to the Future" films, shakes and rocks as he directly addresses the camera, the effects of his disease clearly apparent.
"The reason that he's powerful is that he's comparatively young," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director for the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. "As a result, a lot of people in that age range can look at him and say, `If that can happen to him, it can happen to me.'"
Jamieson noted that the stem cell issue has the potential to be an advantage to Democrats in the November elections since polls have shown the majority of Americans favor some form of stem cell research. Critics say it requires the destruction of a human embryo.
The risk, Jamieson added, is that the ads could appear as using Fox's hopes for a cure for political gain, as some claimed was the case when the paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve lobbied for stem cell research before his death in 2004.
Everybody loves Patricia Heaton. She's a good woman.
Neverminding the fact that the commercial is not an anti-stem cell research add. . . .
Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear ...
Sooouuuuuuup! Just one more reason to like the guy! And one more reason to watch the game for the ads!
Uh, these guys have the headline wrong -- this is not about stem cells -- it is about CLONING.
Guess they are using chimps to write for newspapers now....
I was thrilled to see her name there. I wonder who put that thing together, Prop 2? So typical, riding the coattails of something else, they slip it to the people...
[/blush...sorry, rude expression...]
Michael J. Fox is a Canadian. So he can go petition the Canadian Parliament and have them commit to doing the stem cell research he wants. He should be demanding that Canada kill their children and have the Canadian taxpayers and citizen pay for the research and development I mean after all does Canada not have a superior medical system than the states?
But there's no question that Fox, who campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race, is uniquely suited as a spokesman for stem cell research.
Why is that? Is Fox an advocate of getting brain cancer or something?
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
That's what I remembered too, but nevertheless I heard him say, "many Americans like me..."
Maybe he naturalized and we missed it?
He became a US citizen July 2000. He therefore has dual citizenship with the US and Canada.
Michael J. Fox is a American, he saw the light
Michael J. Fox is a American, he saw the light
Maybe it's a different commercial. (Yea, right)
BUMP
We are thrilled that our star athletes and celebrities have the class and brains to produce the ad against stem cell research instead of stooping to personal attacks on candidates. These are truly classy people!!!
Then he can un-naturalized and go back to Canada, why should US Citizens pay for and suffer for the R&D he wants.
He does this ad for McCaskill, one for Ben Cardin, one in Indiana against Chocola, and appears in Illinois with Tammy Duckworth, how could we possibly think the ads are using him for political gain?
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